CEO of British Bank RBS Braced for Libor Rigging Fine

British bank RBS is braced to be punished over its role in the interest-rate rigging scandal that has rocked the industry, Chief Executive Stephen Hester said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.

"RBS is one of the banks tied up in Libor. We'll have our day in that particular spotlight as well," Hester said in an interview published on the newspaper's website on Sunday.

Hester did not comment on the size of any possible fine but said that the investigation by Britain's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), was "in process." He admitted the affair had been damaging to all banks.

"Even though when all the Libor (fines) are out most of it is going to be around the wrongdoings of a handful of people at a number of banks, those wrongdoings taint a whole industry beyond the handful of people and that makes it a huge problem."

New details from court documents and sources close to the Libor scandal investigation suggest that groups of traders working at three major European banks, including RBS, were heavily involved in rigging the rates.